SOX 404 — ICFR documentation that survives the external audit.
Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and PCAOB Auditing Standard 2201 require management's assessment and external-auditor attestation of the effectiveness of Internal Controls over Financial Reporting (ICFR). The documentation burden is structural; the platform that holds the evidence determines audit cycle time and finding count.
Talk to a SOX solutions engineer · Read the FSI microsite
What SOX 404 / PCAOB AS 2201 require.
Management assessment (404(a)) — design + operating-effectiveness evidence per period; identification of material weaknesses; remediation tracking.
Auditor attestation (404(b)) — independent attestation for accelerated and large-accelerated filers.
PCAOB AS 2201 — top-down risk-based approach; entity-level controls; control-design evaluation; control-operating-effectiveness testing; reliance on management testing where appropriate.
COSO 2013 — internal-control framework; 17 principles; 5 components.
How TeamSync addresses SOX 404.
1. ICFR documentation as TeamSync structured base.
Control narratives, walkthrough memos, risk-control matrices (RCM), test of design, test of operating effectiveness, deficiency / weakness register modelled as structured documents.
2. Evidence vault per control.
Intelligent Repository holds per-control evidence with retention period through audit-cycle + statute of limitations.
3. Walkthrough + test workflow.
Business Process Automation routes walkthroughs and tests through SOX team and process owners; SLA tracked.
4. Deficiency aggregation + remediation.
Deficiencies aggregated; severity determined per AS 2201; remediation tracked; retest evidence anchored.
5. Cryptographic audit on ICFR evidence.
Merkle audit ledger anchors every control-evidence event; external auditor sees cryptographic chain of custody on management's documentation.
What customers see.
| Aspect | TeamSync coverage |
|---|---|
| Control narratives + RCMs | Structured |
| Walkthrough workflow | Templated |
| Test of design / operating effectiveness | Templated |
| Deficiency register | Aggregated |
| Remediation + retest tracking | Workflow |
| External-auditor evidence pack | Generated |
| Cryptographic audit | Merkle |
Adjacent rules + frameworks served.
- SOX 302 — quarterly disclosure controls + procedures (DCP)
- PCAOB AS 1105 — audit evidence
- COSO ERM 2017 — enterprise risk management
- CSA NI 52-109 (Canadian SOX) — Canadian parallel
- J-SOX — Japanese internal-control standards
Personas this overlay serves.
- Chief Compliance Officer (FSI)
- CFO + IT Procurement
- CISO + Audit Committee